Rare original souvenir booklet and program from the Javanese Theatre of the Java Village on the Midway Plaisance at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This program is an oblong format of 24 pages plus the decorative covers in a red string binding measuring about 8" x 5.25". 

The front cover reads: The Javanese Theatre - Java Village, Midway Plaisance - World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 - Containing also a Short Description of Java, The People, Languages, Customs, Food, Products, Etc. - Published by the Java Chicago Exhibition Syndicate This booklet has about 12 full page photographic plates of the Java Village at the 1893 World's Fair with sections titled: The Isle of Java (Dutch East Indies) Tea Plantations In Java Program of Theatre, Java Village, Midway Plaisance The last page is printed with a Progamme for the Javanese Theatre and the photos include Serimpis of Dancing Girls from Java, Javanese Weavers and other handicrafts, the Tea Plantation and lots more. 

This brochure is an original antique and is fully complete and in very good condition overall. 

The following is some information on the Java Village from the Chicago Field Museum website: Chicago in 1893 was perhaps the most exciting city in America. Several years of elaborate preparation culminated in the World's Columbian Exposition, which was held from May 1 to the end of October. Its organizers envisioned it as the biggest and best in the history of expositions placing special emphasis on educational features, such as the latest developments in science and industry. Cultural exhibits, such as the Java village, represented peoples from around the world. The Java village was a reconstruction of a village from West Java, complete except for the lack of lush tropical vegetation. The village fence enclosed homes for the West Javanese (or "Sundanese") participants from the villages of Sinagar and Parakan Salak. On the front porches women demonstrated the art of batik, weaving techniques, and embroidery. In the center of the village stood a mosque where the faithful were called to prayer by a large bedung (drum). Free coffee, tea, and cocoa were dispensed from a teahouse. Strolling through the village one heard the melodies of the angklung orchestra (tuned bamboo rattles), or for 25 cents one could enter the theater for various Sundanese and Central Javanese performances. The 1,000-seat bamboo theater reportedly had more than 82,000 patrons during the exposition's run. The theater fare included chamber concerts with ensembles of suling (flute), kacapi (zither), and tarawangsa (fiddle). In the evenings, the gamelan accompanied performances of two types of wayang, the masterful narrated plays of puppetry and human dance, relating heroic episodes from the Mahabharata or Ramayana epics or the Panji cycle. The music and people in the Java village were described as "the most popular" of all on the Midway. According to one report, "They were most interesting, these gentle Javanese, and, in certain ways and habits and view of life, quite unlike any other people in the world, so far as the Fair afforded an illustration. There was... a certain individuality which showed itself even in their music, which, with its sweet deep tones, was in pleasant contrast to the shrill clamor of the Plaisance all about."

Item Location: Book Room, SP01